Video: What is a Hyperlink? - Definition & Explanation

This article discusses hyperlinks, which are often the jumping-off point for navigating the Internet. We'll define the term 'hyperlink', talk about how hyperlinks came about, and explain how they are used.

David has taught computer applications, computer fundamentals, computer networking, and marketing at the college level. He has a MBA in marketing.

This article discusses hyperlinks, which are often the jumping-off point for navigating the Internet. We'll define the term 'hyperlink', talk about how hyperlinks came about, and explain how they are used.

What Is a Hyperlink?

Did you ever notice when you're looking at something on the Internet that sometimes your mouse pointer on the screen will turn into a pointing finger? Congratulations - you've found a hyperlink! A hyperlink is an embedded command that allows you to jump somewhere else on the Web, within a document or set of documents, or launch something, such as a film clip, by clicking on text or an image. Hyperlinks are a big part of Web surfing, giving users the ability to freely move around from one topic of interest to another quickly and easily.

Hyperlinks can take many forms - underlined text (which are often in blue), images, drop-down menus, animations, etc. In addition to being embedded in Web pages, hyperlinks can also be placed into many kinds of electronic documents, such as a Microsoft Word document, a PDF file, or an email. Hyperlinks are integral parts of larger hypertext systems which are used to organize different types of information. The ability to fluidly navigate using these links is the key. Imagine if you had a really good librarian helping you figure out where to go next in your research.

The World Wide Web (hence the 'www.' that begins a Web address) is made up of hyperlinked documents, content, and media, and it resides on the Internet. Web browsers, the programs that we use to search the Internet, were designed to take advantage of hyperlinks and to facilitate their use. Web pages themselves are written using the hypertext markup language known as HTML. The Internet provides the underlying structure (or the network) for all of this to function.

The History of the Hyperlink

The term 'hyperlink' has been around for roughly 50 years and was first described by Ted Nelson in a series of books and articles between 1964 and 1980. In 1987, Apple released a database for Mac computers called HyperCards that featured hyperlinking between pages in a document, and in 1990, the help feature in Microsoft Windows 3.0 used hyperlinks to tie different pages together. When Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, was developing his vision of how the Web would operate, hyperlinks were a crucial component.

Legal and Ethical Issues

Imagine you had invited some guests over for dinner. You cleaned the living room and entryway and were proud of how they looked, but when your guests arrive, they climb through the kitchen window and begin eating directly from the stove - not what you had intended! Relate this to Web sites - some Web sites object to links being created to content deep in their sites, bypassing their home page, which has been designed to optimize information flow. Something could be taken out of context - not as it had originally been intended.

There are Web sites that don't want to be linked to from other Web sites, and they will put legal disclaimers and warnings on their pages. There are also different interpretations of what is or is not legal for hyperlinks in different court systems around the world.

Lesson Summary

A hyperlink is an embedded command that allows you to jump somewhere else on the Web. Clicking on a hyperlink allows you to freely move from subject to subject (or item to item), regardless of where the next subject is stored on the Web, in a document, on your computer, etc. They can be used within documents or across the World Wide Web. Hyperlinks can also be used to launch Web sites or play animations or other types of clips.

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